Electromagnetic force on a current-carrying coil interacting with a moving electrically conducting cylinder

We present a numerical analysis of a variant of Lorentz force velocimetry (LFV) termed electromagnetic Lorentz force velocimetry (EM–LFV). Both LFV and EM–LFV are techniques for the non-contact measurement of liquid metal flows in metallurgical applications that rely on the measurement of a force acting upon a magnetic system interacting with the liquid metal. Whereas LFV relies on permanent-magnet systems, EM–LFV is based upon electromagnets. We formulate and analyse a simple model of EM–LFV which consists of a single circular coil interacting with a moving solid cylinder. We compute the Lorentz force acting on the coil as a function of the two geometry parameters characterizing the problem and compare the numerical results with analytical approximations for three limiting cases. Our numerical results serve as a verification and validation tool for future full-scale simulations of EM–LFV involving realistic complex electromagnets and three-dimensional turbulent flow geometries.